airing down and gearing up

The first part of the trail is nothing. this is the first fun obstacle called Driveline hill. Not real hard, but lockers and picking the right line are necessary

If you take the line I chose, this step can be the challenge. It doesnt make for a real good bite.

The line I chose

Bill making his way up on a different line

He's much further over than i was, and walked right up it.

here is steve taking the 3rd optional line up it.

This line would be real hard for fullsizes, I think.

Steve getting it done

Between driveline hill and the first water crossing, there really isnt anything difficult, just a little bumpy from time to time.

this is the hill dwon to the first water crossing. Its not hard, just a long downhill rockgarden

There was a jeep broken down at the bottom, right at the last turn. im sure steve had no problem getting arond it, but it did make it a little tight for Bill and I. In fact, i only say jeeps that were broken down on this trip. Go figure

This is the first water crossing

Flows were 120 cfs. I can see why any higher flows would make this DEEP for the under 40 inch club.

we worked our way on a bit, trying to decipher a hand written map, looking for the right place to camp. We made it into this tree grotto, when we decided to turn back a bit to a nice campsite we had passed through

Somehow Steve managed to seperate his front shaft. He must have unloaded the full front going over a fallen tree. he is still working out some of the bugs on his newly SAS'd Taco

Some people called this winch hill1, but I dont think it was. It was a fun little spot though, but not hard at all. this is coming back down through it to the campsite we used.

little video of Steve lifting a tire and then Bill jerking him off, sorta

Here is Bill coming down it

I took a different line, and had an easy ride through it.

this was the view of the creek at the campsite

more view. Had lots of fish rising, so we took sime time and I taught Bill how to do a little Fly Fishing.

bills first fish on a Fly rod.

Heading out Sunday, we stopped to let steve flex out the new suspension alittle bit

working pretty good for the first real trip out on it.

This was all our first time. we kept hearing about the winch hills, and came across some hills that were not tough, and werent sure if these were them. Talking to some broken down jeeps, they said they were, but I dont think so, cause these were easy

a couple view shots

somewhere along the trail

poser shot along the way

This was definately a winch hill, I think the real first one. This was tough but doable, and bill was the first to try

this is a series of Bill tackling Winch Hill 1?

there were two naysayers at winch hill, and these types of people piss Bill off. He was doing really well on the climb, but got a tad bit aggressive. He had a good line, but slid off a rock and sheared the heim off the mounting end of the ram

He also seperated the coil from the bucket, and it rested happily stuck between the C and the knuckle. After replacing the ram, he parked the passenger tire upup on a rock, used a hilft on the drivers tire to lift the body from the tire, and then we could remove the spring. It was tough to get everything lined up again.

With the help of 6 hands, a ratchet strap, hilift, BFH and a little creativity, we got the spring back in without removing a tire or using any stands. all this on a steep rocky hill.

With Bills ram dead, we decided it would be best if Steve and I took the "bypass" around winch hill, since we didnt know how long Bills sector shaft would work, and Steve had to work the next day. It wasnt much of a bypass, but it was a little easier

This got a little uncomfortable. I didnt have the wheelbase or axle width to level the rig out, as the tip was going corner to corner. The front end was also unweighted, so it wasnt hooking up well. We threw out the winch cable to be safe

After we got through that, we stopped for lunch

We had written directions to look for two trees to go through at the last water crossing. Looking down this hill was a little unnerving. Its steeper than it looks, and in a fullsize, you cant see jack

I went first, and Bill kept an eye on me so I didnt drop a tire into one of the larger holes

nosing it in slow because we didnt know how deep it got.

pretty deep, even with 40's

Bill (in the tank top) is 6'2", so this gives an idea of how big the first drop really is

A toy that was running parts back to another broken down jeep was familiar with the trail, and showed us an easier way to get thru the water, or at least down to it.

so we sent steve thru that way

Gets a little deep, even on 36" IROKs

Captain Tank Top leading the way

These are the two trees.

After a fun litle climb out of the canyon, we came out to Fordyce Lake. i love the Sierras

From here it was about an 8 mile dirt/rocky road out to the freeway, where we aired up and looked at the battlescars.